Highschool DXD, Death and Dragon
by dragonevan3
Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki-Shiba, after a long war with the Quincy's and Aizen, finally wins. But it was too late, and the dimension around him crumbles. He wakes up upon his second birth, now with the name Hyoudou Issei. What does this world have in store for him. My first story, so feel free to send Hate mail, Like mail, or Suggestions. May change Rating at later date. thanks
1. A New Life

He quietly glided through the halls with silent footsteps, gliding with immense grace and elegance. Not the type that would come from one being a noble, not even close. These were the movements of a warrior. One who had fought in life or death battles. One who had put his life on the line many times.

And yet this boy was an just an ordinary child.

Ichigo Kurosaki-Shiba, was this ordinary boy. Or at least, that was his name in his last life. His last life had long ended, upon a bloody and long fought victory. But no victories are ever 'True' victories. Aizen Sosuke, the Shinigami who had merged with the Hogyoku, an ever evolving titan of power and trickery had been the first steps on Ichigo's path of sacrifice. But once the Emperor of the Quincy's, the very first of his kind, came into the fold of the war, everything changed. Yhwach or, Juhabach, Ichigo had never truly got his real name, had the powers to see and change the very future.

Three years of death and carnage went by as the war tore apart the three worlds. Soul Society became a barren desert of stone and rubble, the world of the living much the same. Hueco Mundo became a sea of glass from one of Aizen's 'Hogyoku enhanced kido', quickly being abandoned by all spiritual beings.

The final battle started where it all began, atop sokyoku hill, where Aizen had first shown his betrayal. Yhwach and Aizen, in a final attempt to seize victory, teamed up to try and kill a single human boy, Ichigo. But by then Ichigo was already too powerful, his unlimited growth potential forcing him to overlap his centuries older enemies.

Under the combined power of three gods that should never have existed, the already tattered universe finally gave out as Ichigo gave a final attack, the attack that tore everything to pieces.

His soul was left adrift in absolute nothingness, drifting around to try and find another home.

He awoke in confusion in darkness, different from the nothingness from before. This darkness felt more normal, natural and warm. His confusion over where he was soon turned to horror as he was born from a new mother.

No more needed to be said than that he quickly tried to forget.

His Mother and Father knew he was different within the first few months of this reincarnated life. As a baby he nearly never cried except for food, but stayed calm in all situations. Not only that, but he had picked up proper speech by the time he was two years old.

He never complained. He barely spoke unless he needed to. He picked up any skill even after only being shown once, sometimes he even knew what to do beforehand.

Yet his parents gave him an ordinary life.

For that he was grateful.

Sure he did love his new parents, but he would always miss his old family and friends even more.

Issei's reminiscing continued as he made his way through the school halls, making his way to the classroom that had been his since the beginning of his second year of highschool.

Kuou academy, was a prestigious academy that had recently been an all girl school. It had recently become co-ed upon his first year of high school, so he had decided to join. Not because he wanted to be around more girls, no he wasn't a pervert. He was here because he wanted to stay away from boys, who had an idiotic tendency to try and fight him, simply for thinking him a punk due to how he acted, uncaring and scowling at everything.

His new body had taken him to hell and back just from him learning how to control it. The differences in sizes to this body and his last were astounding, and near crippling in his early childhood. He now was shorter and skinnier, his hair brown and curly, which he kept slightly long to hold back in a small ponytail. He could have had it shorter but he could never be bothered getting it cut, after all, you never have time for haircuts amidst a war.

He slowed as he neared the room, loud voices from inside reaching his ears, and placed his hand on the sliding door, ready for what always happens.

The silence was abrupt as all students inside instantly went quiet once the door opened.

Issei stepped forward towards the teacher's desk in slow deliberate steps, pulling out his pendrive to hand to the teacher. But midway through pulling it out of his pocket he noticed a slight difference to the room. Two girls were standing in front of the teachers desk both looking at him with assessing eyes.

If he remembered correctly one of them was the student council president while the other was the vice president. 'Brilliant' he thought sarcastically 'it looks like they want to speak with me'.

The shorter girl with neck length black hair and large pink eyes hidden behind circular glasses took a step towards him. She smiles politely even though he can instantly read it's fakeness, hiding her slight nervousness to be in front of him. Obviously his reputation was pretty bad.

"Issei Hyoudou, if you wouldn't mind we would like to have a private word with you" she said.

Issei just stared for a moment before talking back in his uncaring attitude.

"Umm, Suni Shintora, right?"

Her eyebrow starts twitching and smile grows even more visibly forced. As she opens her mouth to reply he cuts her off by holding his hand up and finishing his few steps to the teachers desk. Dropping the pen drive that held all his recent school work on it, he turned around and walked for the door, completely ignoring the two girls that wished to talk to him. Just as everyone thought he was just going to leave the girls behind, he paused and angled his head around to side glance at them.

"You coming or what?" he questioned, before finally leaving the room.

Sona disliked being around Issei, though dislike might be a rather weak word for it. Don't get her wrong, sure she had a crush on him like all the other girls in the school. His bad boy image made sure of that.

But the way he acted annoyed her, and his aura was downright terrifying. While even the humans could feel it, it was even worse for the devils in the school, all of which made sure to stay away from him. While he was undoubtedly human, there was something about him that sent her devil instinct crazy, wanting her to run without looking back. It was a feeling that had made her peerage unanimously agree to leave him be.

But here she was, being forced to talk with him due to his behaviours in school. Sometimes she hated having her duties as the student council president. She wanted to hand this job onto one of her other subordinates, but none wished a chance to gain Issei's ire, so it was she herself that had to do it.

Sona, along with her trusted Vice President and Queen of her peerage Tsubaki Shinra, followed Issei out the door and into the hallway. They watched as he went to the other side of the hall and leant back against the wall, crossing his arms in front of him and assessing them from under his long fringe.

That was another thing the girls loved about him, his looks. He may have normally seemed like an average boy but his skin was slightly tanned and smooth, and his hair was also shoulder length, tied back with a leather band midway down his spine. Completely against school regulations, yet hot as hell.

She cleared her throat to get that thought out of her head before finally speaking up.

"Ahem, Hyoudou, I am just here to inform you of the fact that you really should be going to your classes instead of just doing the tests and homework while lazing the day away."

With a sigh, Issei shifted his position to get more comfortable while stroking his hand through his hair to push some away from his eyes.

Both Sona and Tsubaki had to struggle to suppress the blush while they listened to Issei's reply.

"I don't see a problem with it." he spoke, attitude still uncaring.

She promptly replied "Even if your grades are perfect in all of your tests you still have an obligation to go to classes, as you are a student here."

Issei let out another sigh "Listen, Suni-"

"Souna Shitori" she cut in.  
"Souna, there really is no point going to classes. It's not like I will actually learn anything in them."

"That's not the point, it is an obligation. And another thing, your hair and clothing is not complying with regulations."

He looked down at his clothes, trying to find what was wrong with them. He only had his school shirt unbuttoned, showing his regular T shirt underneath, he had completely discarded his jacket as well.

With one final sigh he looked back to her and said "Fine, is that all you needed?"

She was slightly taken aback by how fast he accepted what she said, she had expected more resistance.

"Yes that is all" she replied.

They all began to leave their impromptu meeting when she realised that again Issei was walking away from his classroom, intent clear on skipping, ignoring her words completely.

This time she couldn't stop her eyebrow twitching as she watched him go.

He made his way to the building's rooftop, which was undoubtedly his favourite place in the school. From here he gained nearly a full view of the campus.

It was peaceful up here, always was. Except on rainy days, in which he would still come up to the roof, despite the fact he was soaking wet by the time he got home. He didn't really care though, and not much could make him care. Probably only anyone that threatened his new family, but that was it.

That Suni girl rubbed him the wrong way. No she wasn't annoying, he was fine with her really. It's her black spirit ribbon. This was one of the only abilities he still had access to after his rebirth, the ability to see spirit ribbons and to a miniscule degree his fullbring abilities. This powerlessness annoyed him, a shit load.

The thing was, in this life, he still hadn't died yet. So he had zero access to his Shinigami and Hollow powers. He was sure that if he had a Quincy cross he could use some Quincy powers, sadly this world had zero Quincy's that he could get some off. Along with that, the only ones he actually had with him would be stuck to his spiritual body, which didn't even need the crosses to use in the first place. Again, he would have to die to gain it.

Suni was not the only person in the school with a black spirit ribbon, there were actually quite a few. He didn't know what they were, but they seemed to be fine around humans, so he was in no rush to find out. For all he knew, if they suspected he thought they were different they might try to capture him. As such, he would rather avoid them until he had his powers.

"How troublesome" he said aloud. He pulled out his cellphone and began to read a web page on Shakespeare, preparing his activity for the day.

He stood on a bridge over a large road on the path between his school and his home. Issei stood patiently watching the cars speed along under him, rushing on their way back from work. He didn't feel like rushing home though. He was content with the fresh breeze that traveled around him, lightly chilling his skin with its magnificent and gentle kiss.

Something was about to happen in Kuou, he could just tell. His Hollow may not be active at the moment, but the instincts definitely stayed. Probably Zangetsu's way of keeping him safe.

But it wasn't only his instincts that gave it away. There were more spirit ribbons that normal, and none of them matched the colours of the students in his school. These ribbons were a bright grey, sometimes shimmering with gold.

To be honest, it made him nervous, being without powers near possible supernatural beings.

'Wait a minute' he thought as he looked at one if the new ribbons. It was close. Very close.

Issei prepared to make a quick escape before a voice cut in.

"U-um… You're Hyoudou Issei from Kuou Academy, aren't you?"

Issei turned to the source of the voice to see a young girl, probably in her first year of highschool, though he didn't recognise the uniform. A scowl grew when he noticed that she was the source of the ribbon that was nearby.

"Yes?" he replied, an allowance for her to continue.

"Um" she mumbled again.

This time Issei raised an eyebrow.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Well… Hyoudou, are you seeing anyone at the moment?"

That was a question he was genuinely not expecting.

"Not really" he replied, trying to keep a straight face.

"I'm glad to hear that!"

Now he was really confused.

"Huh?" he let out unintelligently.

"U-um, would you mind going out with me?"

He replied after a pause.

"What did you say just now?"

Holy crap he probably sounded like an idiot. But supernatural being or not this was just weird.

"I've always seen you pass by here and… well… I knew you were my…"

'Is she… confessing' he thought to himself, slowly growing more and more confused, listening to her continue.

"P-Please… Please go out with me!"

"..." All he could do was gape in surprise. I mean seriously, from both this life and his past life this was the first time anyone had done this. Sure she was probably lying for some ulterior motive, but he didn't know how to act in these circumstances.

Once his mind had caught up with him he began to actually think this through. This might be a perfect chance to actually learn about what she and the others were. With that in mind he made up a decision.

"Sure" he answered.

The look of pure joy on her face made him blush.

'This is going to be tough, isn't it' he thought in exasperation.

By the end of the week, Issei was ready to pull his hair out. Not only was he bad with girls but he couldn't get even the tiniest bit of information from her. She was definitely skilled in the making of background stories. And it was infuriating him.

But today was his best chance. Today was sunday, the day they had chosen for a date. And this time, if he couldn't get any information… his planning hadn't gone that far yet, so he'd deal with it when he got to it.

Sadly, another problem had arisen. Last friday, when Yuuma, his girlfriend apparent, asked him for this sunday date, one of the black ribboned girls from his school had been stalking him.

This entire thing was turning into a mess.

He stood in front of a sign near one of the entrances to Central Kuou Mall, their designated meeting place for their date that he had planned for them. He had arrived here thirty minutes ago, fifteen minutes before the meeting time, and she still had not appeared.

"She's a bit late" he mumbled.

Suddenly a slip of paper was handed to him from his side, him having been distracted enough to not notice the approaching girl who handed it to him. She was dressed in a red cosplay like dress with black shoulder straps and little bat wings on the back.

"Please check us out!" she said as she placed it into his now outstretched hand, before giving a small wave and walking off.

"I didn't mean to take one" he mumbled, because he was about to hand it back to her before she had left. He looked down at the paper to read it.

It was rather odd looking, with a large magic circle like symbol in the middle and the words ' _We grant your wish_ ' written around it.

"Pft, it's just a scam" He said as he placed it in his pocket to throw out later on.

"Issei!" He heard Yuuma say from his left.

"Good morning Yuuma" He said to her, giving her a small smile to try and play his part of boyfriend.

"Sorry. Did I keep you waiting?" She asked, putting as much cuteness into her voice as she could. It almost made him cringe, his younger sister from his old life, Yuzu, could have done it much better.

"Nah, I just got here" he gave the appropriate response.

And thus started the nightmare. Issei had to try and not look annoyed while putting up with Yuuma's excessive amounts of clothing choices for them both to try. The ice cream they had at the cafe did cheer him up a bit, until Yuuma started to try and give him views into her cleavage, forcing him to try hard to hide his small blush.

At last the date was ending with a walk in the park near Kuou academy. They approached the fountain that stood in the middle of the park, holding hands at her own insistence. While the hand holding did give him a chance to study her energy more directly, it got him no further to figuring her out. Even if it was scarily similar to a Quincy's, it was highly different at the same time.

"We had a lot of fun today!" she spoke out, in a glow of excitement.

"Yeah, it was a great day" Was his reply shortly after, eyes staring into the darkening sky.

She ran forward towards the fountain at that moment, surprising him a little, but he prepared himself to ask her what she was before she left.

"Say, Issei" she said, again trying to use that cute tone of voice to catch him off guard, she slowly began walking towards him while looking at the ground while continuing "Do you mind doing me a favour to commemorate our first date?".

His instincts were starting to flare in warning as she stood in front of him, and he tensed up even as he answered,

"What kind of favour?", he hoped she thought his tensing was due to nervousness.

Her glare as she spoke was the final nail in the coffin that let him know he was in danger.

"Could you die, please?" Came the dark question.

Yup, he was in danger. He decided to play along with it, hoping to try and buy time to think his way out of this mess.

"Huh, um… sorry Yuuma, can you repeat that? I think there's something wrong with my ears."

This time she leaned forward to speak directly into his ear,

"Could you die, please?"

He jumped backward while bringing his hands up in preparation to fight, calling forth his miniscule level of bringer light to speed himself away faster. What he saw next though completely blew his composure.

Yuuma's clothes dissolved right off of her body for a split second as her form changed and grew older. The next second a new set of clothes, if the could even be called that, grew into existence. Her large breasts were barely covered and held up by a thin slip of leather that stretched around her bust. Something that could practically be called leather underwear barely hid her pubic region, while thigh high boots and shoulder length evening gloves appeared on her limbs. All of which was pure black to match the bird wings that grew out of her back.

'Wait… Bird wings'

Issei had to do a double check to make sure he was seeing correctly. Yup, those were definitely wings. All in all she looked like some cosplayer from an ecchi anime.

He was brought out of his shock by her voice,

"Although short lived, playing innocent lovey-dovey with you was fun. I'll take good care of this gift from you" she said while looking at the pink wristband that he had bought her that very day, "So… Please die".

A large glowing white spear with a red outline flashed into existence in her hand, before she threw it at him with incredible speed. Not even with his reflexes could he dodge the spear that pierced into his abdomen before vanishing, leaving a hole for his blood to spill out of. He held his hands over the wound, regretting that he had fallen into her trap, before being replaced by the memories of failure and weakness from his past life.

"Sorry" Yuuma said "Your existence poses a threat to us. So we took the initiative and moved in for the kill. Blame God for planting a Sacred Gear inside your body."

Now he was lost, what the fuck was a Sacred Gear.

It was at this point he knew something was up with that spear she had thrown into his body. It didn't feel like he was dying, and he knew what that felt like. The shattered shaft training gave him that experience. No, the spear had left something inside his body that was tearing into his soul and pulling it apart from within. It was excruciating.

"Fuck… You…" he growled out as he collapsed to the ground, convulsing from the pain of what he believed may be soul suicide.

Yuuma merely smiled "Thanks for the wonderful memories" before spreading her wings and flying off.

'Shit, I can't die like this, not after getting this second chance at life!' he screamed at himself. But by this point he knew there was nothing he could do. His vision was already starting to darken.

A glow from inside his pocket alerted him to a new energy that was now pouring out of it. Pulling out the paper that he had gotten that morning, which he had completely forgotten about, he noticed it had started glowing after being touched by his quickly leaking life blood.

He saw the glowing sheet fly out of his hand just as he passed out from blood loss.

Rias Gremory looked down onto the dying form of the boy that had caught her interest the moment he had walked into the school with his terrifying aura. There was definitely something different about him, that she was sure of. And she wanted whatever it was. His good looks was just another perk to the collection.

"You called me, didn't you? If you're dying anyway I'll take you" She smiled and extended out her wings before continuing, "You will devote your life to me".

Issei awoke to his phones alarm blaring to life.

His body felt heavy. No, scratch that, he felt like he had been hit by a truck. Memories of his dream flashed through his mind along with an annoying headache. Before long he froze. That wasn't a dream, it was a memory.

He leapt up and rushed down stairs to the bathroom just get a look at himself in the mirror. What he saw was completely unexpected.

He looked slightly grown, like an inch or two had been spontaneously added to his body. His muscles had grown in size as well, sadly only a small amount. That was both relieving and worrying at the same time.

His biggest joy however, would be the two five pointed Quincy crosses that hung from a small necklace. He checked his left wrist to see his mother's cross as well, and was not surprised by how relieved he was by that.

He grabbed one of the necklace bound Quincy crosses in each hand brought them to his mouth for a short kiss, before whispering to them, "Yuzu. Karin. I am glad you are with me again".

He could not stop the single tear that leaked from his eye at the memory of their deaths.

"It will be different in this life, I swear it to you girls" he finished, taking one last once over of his new look, checking for yesterday's wound and being semi satisfied with no sight of it before taking off his underwear and getting into the shower.

He took quick preparations of getting into uniform before heading off, resolving himself to spend the day thinking over what had happened the day before, and figuring out how he had survived.

He was so lost in thought that he never even realised that he had walked into his classroom and taken the seat that would have been his had he even actually joined the class.

The rest of the class was in a heavy shock though.

"Is he actually staying for this class?!"

"Is he okay?"

"He never joins us though!"

"He looks different, look at his neck!"

"Is he religious? What's up with those crosses?!"

The class settled down though once the teacher showed up, but only after her own shock had been displayed.

The day passed by quickly after that, with Issei still zoned out until the lunch bell finally went off. At which point he stood up and left for the stairwell.

It was on his way to the roof that it happened. Halfway up the stairs he noticed her, the crimson haired girl with the black spirit ribbon made her way past him. This in itself was a change, and made him tense up. Her small smile as she stepped around him made him nervous.

All around him he could hear the students speaking out about how amazing it was to see the two top school celebrities so close to each other at once. It was then that he caught her name.

"Rias Gremory" he muttered. The name made him shiver. But this time, it was something about her that was, alluring. A blush glowed on his face before he continued on his way. Let it be known that he didn't not acknowledge beautiful women.

The sun had just set and Issei was no closer to figuring out what had happened. No actually, he had some form of small idea.

Somehow, right after the incident with Yuuma, he had healed and either unconsciously brought himself, or was taken, back home to his own bed. He still had no clue on his changed looks though.

"No, buy me one!" came the cry of a child to his left. Looking over to see who was speaking, he was hit with surprise when he saw how far away the child was. Not only that, but he could see the girl arguing with her mother from nearly a hundred metres away, in the dead of night.

"I'll leave you here if you keep whining!" the mother replied, and Issei felt that he was hearing them as well from that distance as he would had they been right beside them.

"Okay, either my Hollow eyes are on and I don't realise it, or something is seriously wrong. And I never remember having crazy hearing as a Hollow."

Shit, he needed to rest with this new information.

He made his way down the block to the park, and made his way over to the fountain. The very spot that this had started. He placed his hand on the fountain's edge to make sure what he seeing was real. Only to notice another sensory boost. His sense of touch had increased as well.

"What the fuck is happening?" he murmured.

A strange noise alerted him to the fact he was not alone so he spun around to face it.

A man stood in the shadows of the trees, face hidden by a dark hat that closely resembled Kisuke's own. His clothing was a simple trench coat, yet it made him seem all the more creepy.

"How unfortunate" he said in his deep voice, as he was beginning to walk forward, "It might just be my lucky day to meet your kind in such a place".

The man's word shocked Issei. He should have been radiating the spirit energy of an slightly strong human, but a quick internal check made him realise that it was no longer he could still deeply feel a human part to him, the energy he was now radiating felt way too much like the other supernatural people in his school.

'Shit' he thought.

The next moment the man flashed a small view of his eyes and Issei leapt back on instinct. But this time the distance he covered was humongous, and he hadn't even used bringer light.

"Running away?" the man asked, causing Issei to growl at the fact that he had technically retreated. That was not going to happen again.

Black bird wings sprouted from the man's back, and now that he had realised it Issei found that the man had the same ribbon colour as Yuuma. Great, another one.

"Hmm, I cannot sense the presence of either a master or a mate. You aren't trying to escape nor are you expanding a magic circle. Analysis of the situation suggests you must be a stray."

"What the fuck are you talking about" Issei said for the first time since meeting this man.

The man ignored him as he continued,

"Then I can just kill you".

A spear just like Yuuma's, but now with a blue glow instead of red, formed in his hand, but this time Issei was ready. As soon as the man threw the spear Issei jumped into action. Using his now greater speed, alongside his bringer light, he spun around the spear and dashed at the man.

The man seemed shocked by this sudden display of speed, but quickly hid it and summoned two extra spears, using them to block Issei's first strike. Issei's fist crashed against the spears with heavy force, cracking the front one. Again, a look of shock came onto the man's face while he kicked Issei away and gained some distance.

Using bringer light once more, Issei launched himself forward, prepared for what would probably be a long battle. This was not the case, because as soon as Issei got close to the man, he disappeared.

It was now Issei's turn to be surprised as a spear of light came out of his stomach, the same place that Yuuma had hit. He fell to his knees in pain, though this time the accompanying sensation of his soul being torn apart did not come with it, for which he was grateful. He grabbed the spear to try and take it out, but it was no use.

"Does it not hurt? The light? Light is a deadly poison to your species, after all. I thought it would finish you off, but you seem to be quite resistant to it." the man recalled his spear, and it flew out from his back, causing him to cough up blood and finally collapse from the fact that his spine had been stabbed in half.

"Worry not" the man continues "I will put you to rest soon".

The man rears his hand up, preparing for the final blow, when a ball of red light slams into and destroys the spear.

"Did you do that?" The man asks Issei, before he looks over to where a magic circle has formed on the ground.

"Guess not" He says, and looks at his new guest.

"Don't lay a finger on that kid." A woman's voice sounds out.

The first thing that Issei noticed when he turns his head is crimson hair.

"Rias…" is all he manages to get out, before once again losing consciousness from blood loss.

"Who the hell are you?" Questions the man in the trench coat, forming another light spear in preparation. With a quick flick it sails towards the crimson haired girl, though it never makes it. From the sky, a white haired, short girl falls down into the path of the spear, smashing it away with her fist and taking her place beside the crimson haired girl.

The man catches his thrown weapon before yelling out,

"Damn you!"

He dashes towards the girls, and a new interruption comes in the form of a bolt of lightning. Out of the trees comes a black haired, large breasted girl, lightning flickering around her fingers in a small show of force, and lets out a giggle.

"Red hair… I see" the man says "You must be from the Gremory family".

The crimson haired girl smiles, her violet eyes flashing in the moonlight.

"I am Rias Gremory" she says "How are you today, my dear fallen angel?"

"Oh, Wow" the man laughs "Who knew this was the jurisdiction of the Gremory families heiress apparent? Is this boy of your household?" He gestures to Issei with a wave of his hand.

Rias replies "I will not show mercy if you mess with him."

"Well, I apologize for today, but you'd better not let your menservants run free. Someone like me might just hunt them down during his walk, you know?" he says with a smirk adorning his face.

"Thank you for the most helpful advice. Then let me give you a warning too… I will not let you off scot-free should you do something like this again."

"Same to you, heiress apparent of the Gremory family." upon those words he takes off, "My name is Donnasiege. Hope we never face each other again."

Donnasiege vanishes into the sky, leaving the park once again in silence.

The three girls walk towards Issei and stand over his body.

"I was careless." Rias says about the unconscious boy. "Who knew he'd come into contact with a fallen angel?"

"He'll die at this rate" says the white haired girl.

"I won't let him die. After all, he's my…" Rias replies as she bends down towards Issei.

Issei once again awakens to his phone alarm going off.

"Damn, I feel so heavy" he grumbles in his morning tiredness, "Why does this keep on… Wait, why the fuck am I naked!".

It was then that he noticed the large shape of a human underneath the blankets that covered half of his bed. He was almost scared to find out what was under them. He reached forward, pulled off the blankets, and subsequently fell off the bed in shock, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

The unmistakable view of a naked Rias Gremory slowly waking up from the noise of his fall gives him what he hopes is his only shock of the day.

"RIAS!" he yells out, only now remembering to vocalise his surprise.

"It's morning?" Rias mumbles as she rubbed her eyes and gets up. A yawn followed by a large jiggle of her breasts is what shakes Issei out of his funk.

"Why are you naked!?" he screams, pointing at her obviously nudity while using his other hand to try and cover his eyes. Though the small gap he leaves between his fingers allows him to still view what sat upon his bed.

"Good morning" came Rias's reply, completely ignoring his previous question.

"Um, Rias" Issei repeats "Why are you…?" he could not finish the question this time in his embarrassment. "I'm dreaming, right? This definitely has to be a dream, wake up Issei!"

Rias merely giggles and places her cheek upon her hands that lay on her knee.

"Everything you experienced was real" she speaks out as Issei searches for something to hide his own nudity, "I am Rias Gremory, a Devil"

Issei stares into Rias's eyes as she says this, his own opening wide at this information.

"Devil…?" he mumbles out, before she continues.

"And your Master. Nice to have you, Hyoudou Issei"


	2. Mis-colored Demon

Footsteps sounded, slowly approaching Issei's room, and the following voice sounded doom for the owner of said room.

"Issei, wake up! You're going to be late for school! Issei!" came a woman's voice.

'Oh fuck me' he thought with horror.

"I'm getting up! Give me a moment!" he screamed out as he rushed around the room, clamoring for anything to hide himself and his nude guest.

"Hurry up, usually you are out by now!"

"Seriously, it's fine, just give me a moment!"

'Is she seriously going to come in!' was his silent scream. An idea came across him suddenly and he grabbed a long forgotten blanket off of the ground. He rushed to Rias and prepared to throw it over her to hide her. Sadly, his luck this morning was at an all time low. With a single bad step on the very blanket he had been carrying he fell head first, right into Rias's breasts and knocking her back onto the bed in the process.

It was at this moment that his mother walked in.

'FUUUUUCCCCKKKK!'

He slowly lifted his bright red face up and turned it to face the woman that had been yelling at him just before.

"Good morning" Rias said from under him, completely unphased by the situation.

"...Good morning. P-Please get ready soon" was his mother's stuttering reply before she closed the door.

As soon as the door had closed Issei lept off the bed and crashed into the ground… again. Once he had gathered his wits, he ran for the closet and as fast as he could he threw on a clean pair of underwear and pants. In the background he could hear his parents screaming at each other, causing him to place his face in his palms from embarrassment.

'Wait, why was I in a bed with Rias?!' he thought, spinning around to face her with wide eyes 'I don't remember anything! What the fuck happened!'.

"You have quite an energetic family" she said casually, like it was a simple conversation starter. Seriously, how could she act so normal right now?

"...Please just cover yourself!" he finally yelled "I can see them!"

"See what?", great another casual reply.

"Your breasts!"

"You may look at them if you want"

"Are you trying to kill me!" Seriously, if his head got any hotter it was probably going to melt.

Luckily for him Rias took this chance to walk over to her neatly folded clothes and began to put them on. He faced away so she could change in peace, and also for his own mental sake.

"Oh" he heard from behind him, "Is your stomach all right? Where you were stabbed."

He quickly looked down at his own bare top half to search for the wound that he just remembered about, but no trace could be found.

"Yeah, it's alrigh…" he spun around so fast that he nearly got whiplash, only to turn back just as fast when he realized she still had no bra on.

"How do you know about that?" he asked, prepared to finally be getting some answers.

"It wasn't a dream if that is what you are wondering. You have an unexpectedly sturdy body. A fatal wound like that healed in less than an hour, after all".

"I… healed...?" he wondered aloud, was his hollow powers coming back?

"I shared some of my demonic powers with your weakened body. Say… Mind hooking my bra?"

With a quick scene of stuttering he spun around and quickly hooked up her bra, but not before failing a few times due to nervousness and inexperience. She giggle a bit at his clumsy handwork.

"Um, Rias… Why were we naked" Issei asked, turning around again once he had finished with the bra.

"I just told you, I shared some of my power to heal you up. As such I had to hug you naked."

"What!" he screamed out, taking her last words in the wrong way, he didn't even remember having sex with her!.

"It's all right, I'm still a virgin" she spoke out, and thus saving him from a possible panic attack.

He turned his head slightly, giving her a small scowl for the joke she had just played on him, though it failed due to the heavy blush upon his cheeks.

"Don't make such a face" she said with a smirk as she reached forward and placed a head on his cheek, stopping him from looking away again, "This world is full of many mysteries"

"Mysteries?" Issei asked, "Um, Rias..."

"What is it?"

"You were talking about Devils before, right"

"Yes, I am a Devil, and your master."

That last word completely bugged Issei out, like hell would he be somebody's servant. It took all his concentration to keep his face straight.

"Say, May I call you Issei?" Rias asked, staring into his eyes while leaning forward, giving him a view down her breasts again.

It was at this point that he had had enough.

"Just… Get dressed so we can go!" He yelled.

The walk to Kuou academy was awkward to say the least. Well, awkward for Issei anyway. Rias on the other hand, acted as if the entire morning scene had never happened.

At this point, Issue was beginning to think Rias would be another Yoruichi.

He shivered at that thought. Like hell did he need a second version of Yoruichi, no matter how much he missed her.

"Say, Issei" Rias asked, "When did you get those pendants?".

He quickly thought of what could be a suitable answer before he remembered that he couldn't lie for shit. Lies were not his speciality, but Kisuke's. And sadly he did not have an inner Kisuke to channel, and instead decided on telling the truth. A short truth, but truth nonetheless.

"Not that long ago actually" he replied, and hoped she would leave it at that.

Rias smiled, appearing satisfied with the answer, and they continued on their way in silence. That is, until they reached the school gates.

"Oh my God, did they…?"

"Are they going out?"

"No! My beloved Rias is taken!"

'Bloody hell, the rumor mill is definitely going to go nuts today' Issei thought as they passed the awed students of Kuoh academy. A single comment from the background made him blush though.

"I wonder if Gremory will tell us how 'big' he is down there, hehe".

His eyebrow twitched as he tried to ignore that comment. They paused in their walking once inside the door and Issei turned to Rias as she spoke,

"I'll send an errand boy later".

Issei raised an eyebrow at her choice of words, "Errand boy?".

She ignored his look and continued, "See you after school".

He scowled after her while she walked off to 'who knows where'. At this point he was really getting annoyed that she seemed to just brush off his confusion. Hell, he had already been stabbed twice within twenty four hours, and getting stabbed hurt. But then again he had a long history of getting stabbed, slashed and shot through.

With a heavy sigh he turned to make his way to the roof only to see two boys standing in front of him. If he remembered correctly they were those two pervert kids in his class that kept on looking into the girl's changing rooms.

That very thought made his scowl deepen. He hated perverts, and idiots even more so. And considering that they never stopped trying to peek at the girls, he would think them to be both.

"Issei, you bastard! What are you doing hanging around Rias like that!" the near bald one, who he believed was called Mitsuka or something.

"Calm down Matsuda." said the second of the two.

'Ah, so that's his name' Issei thought.

"Motohama!" yelled Matsuda. Well, now Issei had their names.

"First, we want to hear what's going on Issei". Motohama spoke, pushing up his glasses with two fingers, just like Uryu Ishida used to do. Damn, that thought alone wanted to make Issei punch their faces in, instead he settled for speaking.

"I don't have to tell you two perverts anything, do I" he growled, slowly releasing a small amount of killing intent.

Both of them froze, paled and grew wide eyed, only now realising their mistake. Sadly, they should not have even approached him while he was in such a bad mood.

"Listen here you two, if you so much as piss me off again I am going to tie you up and hang you upside down in the Kendo hall for the girls to use as target practice. Do I make myself clear?"

They both nodded and Issei gave a small, evil smile. Upon a wave of dismissal from Issei, the two boys ran, bolting out of the hall with such speed Issei could swear they nearly used Shunpo.

Issei once again brought his right hand up to grab Yuzu's Quincy cross that hung in front of him. It was brief, only to check that it was still there, before he walked up the stairs and onto the roof.

Over the morning, he thought about all that had happened, trying his hardest to make connections with the clues.

"Gathering from what Rias said, I am now a devil. Seeing as her spirit ribbon is black, that must mean all those with black ribbons are devils." He nodded at the sense this made, happy that he now had an idea of what was happening.

"Since they are devils, then the ones with the feathered wings would make sense to be angels of some kind. And that also explains why they were hunting me the second time. It's Yuuma that I don't understand though. Did she somehow sense something about me that she felt she needed to stop, or was she just suspicious of me."

Damn, this entire mess was confusing. This was nearly as much of a mess as Soul Society, and that was saying something. Wait a minute… wasn't he being followed by a devil when Yuuma had asked him on that date?

That thought made him angry. Did the devils know she was going to kill him but let him die anyway? He was going to have to talk to Rias about that. Anyone with power letting another innocent person die was a sin in his book. It was the duty of the strong to protect others.

But how did he become a devil himself? Rias said she had done something to him, and that must have been after he had died to Yuuma. Did that mean she let him die to turn him into a devil? Was that what the piece of paper with the magic circle was for?

Now he was really mad, but sadly now was not the time for answers. Soon though, very soon.

Once lunch had ended Issei decided to, for the second time this year, actually join his class. He didn't listen to the teacher though, he had long ago mastered his current year levels work. Before long the bell had rung for the final time that day and Issei waited, feeling the nearing presence of a devil.

His clue that they had arrived was the squeals of fangirls. With one palm over his face in a show of annoyance he stood, and looked over to the devil that had just entered the room.

"Hey" the second year boy said, his blond hair and blue eye seemed to leave a glowing twinkle around him.

'What the fuck? Are those real?' he mentally exclaim at the sparkles.

"AH! It's Kiba!" screamed a girl in excitement.

"Excuse me for a bit" Kiba said kindly to the fangirls, moving passed them and making a beeline for Issei, "Hello".

Issei raised an eyebrow at who the apparent errand boy was. Kiba was the second most famous male in the school, right after himself. Kiba was the top student in the boys Kendo team and an all around pretty boy that had nearly all of the female student clamoring over him.

"So… you're an errand boy?" Issei said emotionlessly, the single brow still raised in silent question.

Kiba merely smiled, "Of a kind. I'm here on behalf of Rias Gremory. Would you mind following me?".

Issei snorted and lowered his brow. It's not like there was anything else to do. With a short nod Kiba led the way out of the room, the silent and shocked eyes of the other students being left behind in wonder.

The walk towards the old school building was silent, leaving Issei with much time to prepare for whatever could possibly happen once inside. What happened though, was completely unexpected.

An old room lit by multiple 'three pronged candles' and a Victorian vibe to it was his first look into the clubroom. A small white haired girl sat on one of the two couches in the room, a small table sat in between said couches. The girl, he quickly realised, was another school celebrity, Nekono or something, was nibbling at a… he didn't even know what that was, but it looked good. Like a small piece of chocolate fudge on the end of a stick.

From beside him, Kiba spoke up, "She's Toujou Koneko, a first year student."

Koneko glanced over at them and gave a small nod as Kiba introduced him to her, "This is Hyoudou Issei"

"Mmm" Issei said simply, trying to keep calm after he realised that this was the girl that had been stalking him and Yuuma.

The girl was undoubtedly what would be called, a 'loli', and was practically a mascot for the first years. Issei was quite surprised to find out that she was a member of this 'Occult Research Club', but then again, she was a devil, just like the others.

The sound of a shower running alerted him to another presence.

'They have a shower in here? That's pretty cool' he thought, letting himself go with the flow of the current happenings. After all, there was not much he could do until Rias could answer his questions. Speaking of Rias, was she the one having the shower? Best not to think about that.

"President, I've brought your clothes." comes the new voice of the other occupant of the bathroom.

"Thanks, Akeno" Rias replies.

A black haired girl walks out of the bathroom, a smile on her face and hands held together in front of her large breasts. Her hair was done up in a ponytail with an orange ribbon, very much like the colour of his own hair in his past life.

"Oh my. Look who's here." she says sweetly as she moves towards him, "You're the new club member, right? Please to meet you."

Akeno gives a small bow in greeting then continues speaking, "I'm the clubs vice president, Himejima Akeno. Please to make your acquaintance. Hehe".

Within Issei's mind, only one thought was prominent, 'Please don't be another Yoruichi. Please don't be another Yoruichi! Please don't be another YORUICHI!'. But all he could do was cross his fingers and hope.

"I'm Issei Hyoudou. Nice to meet you too" he repeated back to her, intent on at least following formalities at the moment.

Rias chose then to walk out, in uniform and drying her hair with a white towel, "Thanks for waiting. Sorry, I spent the night at your place, so I had too…"

Issei cut her off, not wishing her to finish her sentence due to embarrassment, "No, it doesn't matter. I could wait".

"Well, everyone's here now!" she exclaims, a grand smile lighting up her face. She guides everyone to the couches, which they all sit on while Rias leans on her desk at the back of the room."We welcome you to the Occult Research Club."

Issei holds his hand up, his now usual way of cutting people off. It was time to get serious.

"I'm sorry, but I am not here to join your little club"

Her smile drops at his words. Just from that single sentence Issei gained the focus of the entire group of Devils.

"Oh" was all Rias replied with.

"I came for answers. You let me die to that Angel, didn't you?"

Their surprise is evident in their eyes. Obviously they had not expected Issei to figure out that the ones who had attacked him was an Angel.

Rias cleared her throat, her own attempt to regain composure, "That is not true, we saw that she was hanging around you and wish to see what she wanted to do. Sadly that ended in your death."

Issei scowled, though his instincts allowed him to see that she was telling the truth, "So you admit I really did die. Tell me, how did you not only revive my physical body, but also stabilise my soul?".

Now they stared directly at him, both confusion and shock blaring out from not only their faces, but also their aura.

"What are you talking about? How did I 'Stabilise' your soul?" Rias said, uncertain about what was being said.

Now it was Issei's turn to be confused, "You mean you don't even know what you did?"

The members of the Occult Research Club locked eyes for but a moment before facing back to Issei.

"Issei" Rias said "The Occult Research Club is a mere facade. It is only a hobby. To be frank… we are devils".

Issei had long gotten sick of this conversation. Standing up, and towering over the other members he began to yell, "I've had enough! I know you are all Devils! What I want to know is why that fucking angel, Yuuma, killed me! And now what the fuck you want with me!" on those last words he slammed his fist down onto the coffee table between the couches. It would have ended at just that, had the table not completely shattered under the force of his strike.

The Occult members all looked on in shock at the new devil in their midst. And what they saw scared them, severely.

His eyes were no longer human, but had changed into a form none of them had seen before. Issei's irises had brightened from his normal colour into a fiery storm of piercing yellow, but his scalera had deepened into black, darker than they had ever seen before. As Issei calmed himself down from his rant, his eyes slowly bled back to normal. But what had already been seen was unforgettable.

Nor was what they had felt. While there was definitely the overlaying magic energy of a Devil, underneath that was something stronger, more primal. And it was not magical. This energy had felt like it came from deep within, carrying Darkness, Despair, Bloodlust, Rage, and raw Evil.

This was much more than they had bargained for.

Issei faced the ground, face hidden by his hair, and spoke "If you will not tell me, then this talk is over."

Issei walked out of the room without another word.

The members of the Gremory peerage sat in silence. This silence was not natural, but born of fear, confusion and surprise. What they had just experienced was abnormal, even for them, and they were practically the definition of abnormal, being devils and all.

Issei was different, and not in a good way.

Rias Gremory herself was at a loss. That talk had not gone as she had thought at all, with one unknown thing after another. It was almost like they were on completely different pages. Actually, that probably wasn't far off from the truth. Issei's knowledge was different, and he connected the dots in ways most people would never even think of. And every single time he hit the mark.

Naturally smart, nearly cunning, in the ways people seemed to work, almost like he had faced people that worked in even more complex ways in more complex situations. Not what she expected… At all.

"Rias, what was that?!" came Koneko's shaky voice, an event that did not happen often due to her easy and calm nature.

"I… I don't know" she replied, and turned to face Akeno.

"Aken..." she paused when she saw the look on Akeno's face. Akeno's face was red, her bottom lip quivering in a way not even Rias had seen before, while her knees shook slightly. Her eyes were completely entranced at the very spot Issei had stood, glazed over in… something.

Akeno was not going to be helpful any time soon.

Rias turned this time to Kiba, "I need you to send a message to my brother. Tell him that… Tell him what happened and ask if he has any advice."

"Right away" Kiba said, before disappearing into a magic circle. Rias walked around her desk and sat on her chair before placing her forehead on her desk. This day had turned out terribly.

Issei was furious.

Not only had his suspicions been all but confirmed but he now had other things to worry about. This anger was not completely natural. Yes, he would normally be angry, but not enough to smash a table. He had to see if he could get into his inner world now that he was no longer bound as a human.

But at this time he could not help but feel utterly disgusted. People never seemed to change, only helping others if they saw gain. Rias's gain would have been that 'Sacred Thing' that Yuuma was talking about, in the form of a servant through him. Somehow she had turned him into a devil, a servant for her to control. He would not allow that, he had his own will and it would not be crushed.

His one and only wish was to protect others, and if more people would die due to Angels, Devils and whatever else existed in this world, then he would pull down the sky and crush the heavens to protect them. He would not let this world end up like his last, a world left in ash and eternal darkness.

He paused in his slow steps through the midnight alleys of town.

'It seems one of them has decided to come to me' he thought, reaching up to stroke at the grey/gold spirit ribbon of one of the dark winged angels. This was one that he had never met before, he could tell by the small difference in their energy. But this time, something bugged him. He was getting a lot more information than normal from the ribbon. It was almost like touching it told him what this angels emotions were, interesting.

The same warped sound that went off when he first met the male angel echoed through the nights streets.

"How strange." came the voice of a grown woman, "I don't seem to have the wrong person. I, Calawana, have been ordered to erase all traces."  
Issei stayed facing away from the woman, hand held firmly on the ribbon that stretched behind him onto the woman, reading her emotions even as she spoke.

"How utterly strange. Why are you alive?".

Calawana's wings burst out of her back as she prepared for the kill, but halted upon an unexpected sound.

Laughter.

The boy was bloody laughing.

Calawana grew both angry and careful. There was no reason for this boy to laugh, so why was he. Had this been a trap?

"If you think I'm laughing because I led you into a trap, then you obviously have no sense of humor" Issei said, before frowning, "Great, now I sound like Urahara with that blood message through the window… I need to bleach my mind of his antics."

Issei turned to face Calawana for the first time. He just stared in annoyance when he realised that the only thing she had on her top half was an incredibly loose leather coat, half her bust sticking out. Her hair was purple and expression almost bored, despite the previous range of emotions he had felt though her ribbon.

Seriously, what was with these God damned Angels and their clothes, or lack thereof. He choked at his own unintended pun. How could Angels be damned by God? No matter.

"So, you are an angel, yes? What is it with you all and your monologues?" Issei asked, matching her own emotionless face.

Calawana cringed, "Do not mess me up with with those do-gooders! I am hardly like them."

Issei was confused now, "Then what are you?" he asked.

"A Fallen Angel, boy. Did you not do your homework?"

'Well look at that, she really is God damned.' he joked, and finally dismissed the ribbon that had been in his hand. It seemed that the beings here could not see the ribbons. Maybe they are not sensitive to Spiritual Energy?

"Sadly..." Issei says, "I am rather new to all this Angel and Devil business, so I have had to slowly try and get my information together. You have been a good help, so thanks. Now if you don't want anything I will just go home now."

He dived out of the way as a light spear with a golden outline flies past.

"I take it as a no then" he frowns, "Truthfully I have had a bad day, so let us end this fast please".

For the first time since reviving with his powers as a demon, Issei flared his power.

And his shirt tore off his body.

'The fuck?!' he thought, before looking behind him. Wings. Two large bat-like wings extended out of his back, pieces of his broken school shirt hanging off of them like a clothes hanger.

The only problem, he was sure bat wings were meant to be black. His own though, were a gleaming bone white. Red fur rested along the top of the wings, covering what he was sure was meant to show.

Calawana seemed to think it was shocking as well, judging by the fact her face had shown its first emotion, surprise.

"Um, I don't actually know what happened, but I will just go along with it" Issei said, turning back to face Calawana, legs bent in preparation.

Calawana seemed to have different plans though.

"This is most unexpected, we shall meet another time. But for now I have to report this to my colleague's" she spoke out. With a single flap of her wings she flew up, before gliding out of sight.

Issei reined back his power, annoyed that he had torn his shirt for nothing, no matter how accidental it had been. With one final sigh at his horrid luck he spun, and headed towards his home.

After much internal debate the next morning he decided to go to school, if only to show that he had no intention of fighting against the devils… Yet. He would see when the time came. But so far the devils would have to pull of something pretty damn amazing to gain his trust.

His walk to school started out rather uneventful, a completely different feeling from the last few days. He was just glad to finally catch a break.

A girls squeal and a crash sounded off from behind him, he turned quickly just in case he would have to fight on that instant. Instead he got a direct look at a pair of pure white panties.

His hand was in front of his eyes faster than he could blink.

"Ohhh, why did I trip?" came the girls squeaky voice from underneath her flipped dress. As she sat back up, recovering herself, she noticed the man just a few meters away, hand away from his eyes now that she was decent.

The man looked down at the girl and studied her. She was blonde, with shining green eyes and clothing of a nun. A small cross hung from her neck stopping right between her small breasts. But the moment Issei reached out with his senses to see if the girl was an Angel or a Devil, he paled. She was neither. Far from it, because she felt very human. The problem was that she felt scarily similar to Orihime…


	3. A Devils Worry

Chapter 3 - A Devil's Worry

The moment he realised that he had been staring at the small blond girl, he blushed, berating himself for losing his cool. He needed to hide his emotions better. That lesson was one of the last he had received from Old Man Zangetsu, before his access to his inner world was blocked off. Actually, he should probably try getting back there some time.

Issei took a step forward and held his hand out to the girl, looking off to the side while waiting for his small blush to leave.

"U-Um, are you okay?" he asked as he pulled her up. Once again the feeling of Orihime washes into his senses, but this time he manages to hide it.

"Thank you" she replied, holding on to the offered hand us she came up to her feet. As soon as she is up a sudden gust of wind comes breezing through, pulling off her white hood that had previously shadowed her features.

This time he was mesmerized by the innocent look in her eyes, the exact same look that Orihime had before her capture by the hands of Aizen. The memories of his lost friend nearly bring tears to his eyes. But he held them back, he couldn't cry now. He didn't deserve a chance to cry, not after he had failed them.

"U-um…" came her awkward mumble. Only then did he remember that he still had hold of her hand. He let go and brought it behind him, trying to act as casual as possible.

"Sorry" he said, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, thank you very much!" she had a large smile adorning her face as she said this.

"It's fine, as long as you are okay."

"U-um" she mumbled once again, "I got lost and need help".

Issei did think he could take much more of the similarities. Even the shy way they spoke was similar, but he had to push through, if only for Orihime.

With a small smile, he gestured for her to follow, before continuing his way through the park.

"Are you taking a vacation or something?" he asked, trying to lead into the conversation of where she wish to get to.

"Oh, no" she replied, "I was appointed to this town's church."

At least he now had a direction to walk in.

"Are you some sort of nun? I mean, it explains your clothes."

"I'm really glad to have met someone as kind as you. It must be divine guidance."

Issei blushed at the compliment, scratching his cheek to hide it.

"May I ask you a question?" she said, looking up at him with wide eyes, pleading for him to say yes.

"Sure" he muttered, barely audible as it was.

"Are you religious of some kind, those star pendants look really nice"

Issei's mood turned somber, as he reached over and stroked Karin's cross, "They are sort of from a religion, in an odd way around it. These come from my mother's side of the family. You could say that the things they believed in were… different."

"They are really pretty!" she exclaimed.

Issei smiled sadly, "They belonged to my sister's".

The blonde nun picked up the hidden meaning and faced forward to continue walking.

They were distracted once again by the cries of a child. Looking over, Issei saw a young boy sitting on the ground, a bleeding scrape on his knee showed them why he was crying. Without a second thought, the nun ran to the boy, placing down her luggage before kneeling beside him.

She stroked the boy's head as she spoke kindly, "Don't cry; it's just a scrape. You're a boy after all."

Issei walked forward to stand beside the nun, curious as to what she had come to do. He was not disappointed with his decision. The nun hovered her hands above the scrape and a green glow shone from them, or from her ring in particular. Within seconds the scrape had disappeared, as if it had never even existed.

Issei in particular was shocked. That ability had been similar to Orihime's own! Is it a healer thing? He quickly blinked to clear the memory of Orihime.

"Look! your wounds gone! It's all right now." the nun spoke to the small child, before turning to face Issei, "Sorry, force of habit." before sticking her tongue out, a cute thing Hime used to do as well.

They continued their walk towards the church, and Issei thought over the nuns ability.

"That was pretty neat just now" he says, "That power was pretty awesome".

"It's an amazing gift given by God" she smiled as she spoke, before hiding her face with her hood. It was only due to his new increased hearing that he heard her next words, spoken in a mournful way, "Yes, a wonderful power…"

It was at this time that they finally reached the bottom of the hill that the church sat on. Issei himself froze as soon as the noticed the presences of multiple Fallen Angels coming from within. He was almost tempted to try and stop the nun from heading there, fearing for whatever could happen to her.

"Oh, that must be the place" she said, pausing alongside him to look up at the looming church that sat upon the hilltop.

"It's the only church in Kuou, so it's hard to mistake it for anywhere else." he mumbled half heartedly, still stuck in his own internal debate.

"Thank you so much!" said the girl, giving him a quick bow of thanks.

Though Issei was only half listening to her. With great care he was scanning the church with his Spirit Energy trying to figure out what made it feel so different. Soon enough he found it. The Reishi around the church felt… Pure? He felt that it was an appropriate word. It contrasted the energy around Kuou academy, which felt, Dark, in a way. He found it hard to describe.

"I'd like to return the favor, so would you like to accompany me?" she asked him.

He quickly turned her down, "Sorry, but I really should be getting to school"

"Oh" she said, "I'm sorry for keeping you. My name is Asia Argento. Please call me Asia!"

Issei smile down at her, but inside he was once again berating himself. He should have introduced himself long ago.

"Nice to meet you Asia, my name is…" he paused for a moment, before deciding to go with his idea, "You know what, just call me Ichigo"

"Ichigo, I'm so happy to have met someone as kind as you so quickly after arriving here. Please visit the church when you get the time. Promise me!"

Issei hesitated for a moment, before finally giving a short, "Okay".

He turned and began to walk off towards the school, waving at Asia over his shoulder, "Later".

"Bye Bye Ichigo"

The moment he stepped into the school gates he knew he was being watched. But honestly, he did not care. The entire reason he even came to school still was in an attempt to at least show a hand of peace. He may hate the devils at the moment, but he was not stupid enough to start a losing battle. His powers were still weak. Painfully so. He would not make any stupid moves until absolutely necessary under these circumstances. He had learned not to be a impulsive during the War.

But then again, he also had another goal. He needed to get reacquainted with battle. And one on the best ways to do that was in this school, the Kendo and Karate Clubs.

Issei spent the day on the roof in silence, only ruined by the annoying presence of his follower. Seriously, they did not have to follow him for the entire day. He sighs at the conviction these devils had at keeping tabs on him.

Once the final bell of the day had rung, he headed towards his planned destination.

The Kendo hall was rather large, and it held a beauty that only those who liked medieval japan, could enjoy. It's shiny tile roof and sturdy wooden walls were reminiscent of Soul Society in a way. Great, another somber thought.

Without a single knock he opened the door and walked straight inside. Just like whenever he walked into his classroom, silence took hold. A large group of few boys and lots of girls stood in the centre of the room, eyeing him with nervous, questioning looks. To the side of the room stood Kiba, standing beside a rather tall third year girl with curly brown hair tied up in a pony tail, and large blue eyes. Both of them wore the clubs 'Hakama', their 'Men' held in their arms and 'Shinai' leaning against the wall.

After a short pause, Issei began to walk towards Kiba, who shuffled nervously as he approached. Kiba grew confused when Issei gave a short wave, "Sup, Kiba" Issei said.

Kiba was absolutely confused now. Why had Issei come here? Was there something he needed? Or had he somehow figured out that he was being followed by Akeno?

Kiba gave a smile, faked under his nervousness, "Hello, Issei. What can I do for you?"

Issei smiled, at least Kiba seemed to be fine with talking to him.

"Could you tell me who the leader of the kendo club is?" Issei asked.

The girl beside Kiba cleared her voice, "U-um, that would be me" she said, her voice nearly a whisper. She was shy, why wouldn't she be, when the coolest boy in the school had come around asking for her. This was also the first time she had seen a smile of any kind on Issei's face, and she was loving it.

Issei turned to the girl, still flashing his smile, using it to try and appear inviting.

"I was wondering if you could allow me to join this club?" He spoke steadily, and with conviction.

Everyone was shocked, no one would have suspected Issei would actually want to join a club. Not when he was as antisocial as he usually is.

The silence held for but a few seconds before the club leader took charge, now in a semi business mode.

"Um, we would first need to test you to see what skill you have." she said a bit nervously.

"That would be fine" Issei said, "But ah, sorry, I don't know your name"

The girl jumped slightly before giving a quick bow, "M-my name is Asume Takami"

"Asume, sorry, I may be a bit rusty. I haven't actually touched a Zan… A sword for quite a while." Issei was sweating for almost saying Zanpakuto, that was way too close.

"T-that's fine Hyoudou, u-um, Kiba could you please have a practice spar with Hyoudou" said Asume in a hurry.

Issei did not miss the way Kiba froze for a second before putting on a fake smile and answering with a short, "Of Course".

It didn't take Issei that long to get into his own gear in preparation for the spar. His only annoyance was that all the Shinai were the same size but felt too short for him. Oh well.

By the time he was done he walked the the centre of the hall where a area was opened up for the spar, all the other students surrounding to watch. Kiba was already waiting for him.

As they stood facing each other Asume came up from the side, all nervousness now gone as if she was now in her own zone as she spoke,

"I will be the Judge for this bout. This session will be five sets of three minutes each. Start on my count".

Kiba held his Shinai in the classic two handed stance in front of him, eyes carefully watching Issei, prepared to search for any holes in whatever stance he took. But to everyone's surprise, the stance that Issei took was abnormal to a high level.

Issei's had angled his body with his left shoulder and foot pointing straight at his opponent, his shinai faced behind him in his right hand, making it hidden from Kiba's view.

Some of the students in the background sniggered, thinking Issei's stance completely stupid.

Only Kiba and Asume realised the truth, to the point that Kiba was even sweating under his Men. Issei had left the perfect amount of space between himself and Kiba to move the shinai in any way he wanted before Kiba could reach Issei.

Asume watched with focused eyes as she held her hand up before swinging it down saying, "Begin".

Kiba took a quick step forward and swung the Shinai in a downwards strike, intent on testing Issei's fighting style.

The next second happened in a blur that only Kiba could truly follow.

Issei's Shinai swung around from underneath towards Kiba's own Shinai, giving the impression of a block. At the last moment before the blades stuck Issei spun his wrist, knocking Kiba's Shinai an inch to the right.

Kiba felt confused as Issei's right arm once again started going behind him leaving Issei open. But he felt his heart stop once he realised, 'The Shinai is no longer in Issei's right hand'.

A resounding crack echoed in the hall from a strike against Kiba's Men, shoking everyone in the hall as the watched. They had believed that this would have been an easy victory for Kiba, but now they realised just how crazy Issei's style was.

Asume herself had frozen in shock from the fact that it had been less than three seconds before the match had started and that she had barely seen them move.

'Fast' She thought.

Kiba stumbled backwards from the impact against the front of his Men and looked at Issei in shock. Issei's right hand was empty and hanging down against Issei's side while his left hand now held the Shinai diagonally.

"You're ambidextrous?" Kiba asked, once again taking a ready stance.

"Yup" Issei answered casually, this time taking a new stance by standing side on and hold the Shinai up like an english knight would hold his blade, again making Kiba nervous.

"Shall we continue?" Issei asked.

Kiba gulped down his nervousness and built up his excitement, finding anticipation and challenge in his new opponent.

"Yes" he answered.

Issei sat on his bed taking in all the information he could from his duel with Kiba that day.

After the first duel, Kiba quickly became serious, surprising Issei in the fact that he was much faster than Issei thought. It was to the point that Kiba could actually run circles around him in his weakened state. Luckily Kiba's speed was countered by the fact that Issei's fighting style was so unpredictable that Kiba had to stay on the defensive just to make sure he didn't lose again.

The second duel ended up lasting a full twenty minutes with neither one gaining the upper hand until Asume called the duel off to end training session.

Issei had gladly been accepted into the club, with Asume helping him to fill out the clubs paperwork before she sent him on his way.

The good thing about the duel was that he felt himself becoming accustomed to fighting in this body, which of course was slightly different to the one in his last life.

He derailed his thoughts and began what he had come to his room to do in the first place.

Settling himself into a Seiza position atop his bed, he let his mind calm, focusing his attention to his inner world.

As he relaxed, his mind slowly began its inner search, trying once again to get inside.

Darkness greeted him as he opened his eyes much to his surprise.

This… was not what he remembered.

'Where were the buildings that covered the land?' he thought as his body swiveled around to search. Or whatever was meant to be his body anyway. His body was a strange makeup of a raw mass of energy, energy that glowed many different colours. Again he looked around for answers, any answer would do at this point. All he felt that he had been doing recently was searching for answers, and he was getting sick of it.

His Inner world was changed by too much in the war, but not to this degree where it was pitch black.

'Where were the storms that represented his pain?' was his next thought. The pain of all the wounds he had taken. The pain of watching the innocent dying. The pain of watching his loved ones torn apart.

'Where was the destruction that was his image of war?'.

The destruction that showed him the effects war could have on the landscape, with broken buildings laying all over the place. The destruction that left everything desolate and empty, like none had ever lived or could ever live, there.

Near the end of the war he hard to harden himself, to become cold emotionally, just to be able to push on and commit the sins he needed just to win the war. That coldness and will for sinning had created a large silver and crimson flame that became the only light source in his inner world, but now even that had disappeared into the darkness.

But worst of all 'Where were the dead bodies that remained as the memories of all those that he had failed?!'. The bodies of his family, no longer there. The bodies of his friends, gone. The bodies of his comrades, missing.

His panic was reaching new heights. It was like he had lost everything that he was, just by seeing this empty… nothingness.

Despair began to fill him as he floated around. Why had it all changed?! What happened to cause this?! Where had it all gone?!

As tears streamed down his face, his worst thought hit him like a Cero Oscuras to the chest.

"ZANGETSU! WHERE ARE YOU!" he screamed into his surroundings. He was scared. Had he lost the very part of him that he had hoped was with him this entire time. It was as if the peace he was living with all this time was but a lie, just to keep him sane.

Was he fated to lose everything he held dear from the start.

"..."

A sound came to him just as he felt he was about to completely lose himself to his broken heart, to his fear, to his despair, to his madness.

"..."

He heard it again as a peaceful feeling came over him. It was a feeling that was familiar to him, as a part of him should be. He could finally feel them. He could sense the presence of Zangetsu. Before he could try and trace the presence, it disappeared, but that did not matter right now. All he cared about was that they were still with him, that they had never left him.

He let himself drift back to reality and into the depths of sleep.

Rias was panicking.

At first everything was fine, or as fine as it could be with her pawn running around rouge. While she had been pondering about what to do with Issei, a message had come to them from the Archbishop to exterminate a Stray Devil that had entered their territory.

The mission itself was easy. The Stray was but a smallfry that had easily been defeated by them. But what had arrived afterwards made everything grow strange.

The world around them grew cold and displaced, completely different to the magic they and the Fallen Angels use to keep humans away from their fights.

"Kiba, Koneko, Group up, Akeno prepare an exit for us" she spoke, eyes leaping around the deserted factory that they had just killed the Stray Devil in.

"Yes Bouchou" they simultaneously replied while mimicking her actions of watching the surroundings.

A chill permeated their bones as Akeno quickly attempted to create the portal, fear settling in instead of the previous joy of the completed mission.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as a dull hum of energy filled the air.

"SCATTER!" she yelled as she leapt away from the group. The rest of her peerage followed her lead just in time.

The scream of space itself tearing filled their surroundings as a beam of crimson energy passed through where they had been standing. Her heart raced while the final flickering sparks of the attack floated passed them and out of the other side of the building, which now was missing its entire wall in the aftermath.

Her ears were ringing as her mind tried it's hardest to find out what had just happened. Rias spun around the room, making sure that none of her dear friends had been harmed. To her joy and luck she found them unharmed other that a few scrapes and bruises from their escape.

That joy quickly turned to horror when behind Koneko a massive humanoid creature melted out of the shadows. And how a bone white creature can melt into shadows she will never understand.

"Koneko run!" she yelled to the shortest member of the group. Koneko, quickly realising the danger she was in put up a hasty defense to try and block the attack that the creature swung her way.

An explosion of power went off as the beasts tail smashed into the girl, followed by her scream of pain when she was sent flying towards the Crimson haired girl. Rias tried to catch the small girl that had been sent her way, only to widen her eyes in surprise as she was sent flying as well from the force behind the impact.

After ten meters of sliding along the ground their momentum finally halted. In Rias's arms Koneko coughed and a large amount of blood flew out of her mouth, before the poor girl fell into unconsciousness.

Feeling rage at the injury her rook had taken Rias looked up at the monster that was now being pestered by that speedy Knight.

It was easily three times the height of a human, bone white armor was covering its strange lizard legs. A thick tail with a mace like ball at the end stuck out behind it, obviously the weapon that had hurt Koneko so much. Its upper body was as thick as an apes, with oddly skinny blade like arms that should have belonged on a Pray Mantis. Upon its head were black patches of hair, and a mask. The mask looked like a dog that had its snout cut off leaving a grotesque mix of snarling teeth on its face and bony muscles. In the middle of it's chest was a hole, right where the heart lay. How a being could live with an empty chest was anyone's guess, Rias just didn't have the time to figure anything out. Everything on the beast was white except for it hair.

"What is that thing?" asked Akeno as she ran to Rias's side, all the while preparing for if she needed to assist Kiba.

"I do not know, but that thing has hurt Koneko, so it deserves no mercy" Rias growled her answer, letting her anger get the better of her.

Akeno gave a short nod before lightning covered her arms. With a flash, blasts of lightning shot from her palms to the monster that was still distracted, as it tried swatting the apparent fly that was in the shape of Kiba. The monster froze up from the flashes of electricity blaring through it just before it could take another swipe. The knight, who finally found a chance, dashed to its masked face with his sword in hand, and took a swing.

And missed.

Kiba's eyes bulged out when he realised that his sword had passed through thin air, not knowing how his target had escaped his perception.

Sadly Akeno and Rias knew exactly what happened to the creature. Just as Kiba's sword was to finish it off, the creature disappeared in a static boom, before reappearing… right in front of them. The girls once again scattered as the beasts arm lashed down. Rias held tightly to the girl in her arms while she ran, an explosion behind her telling that the beasts strike had caused the ground the explode from its strength. She took a quick glimpse behind her before freezing in horror once again. Inside of the beasts mouth was an obvious ball of crimson energy, charged up and pointing in her direction.

As fast as she could she fired a ball of her Power of Destruction at the beast mouth, detonating the energy ball before it could fire.

The area lit up from the resulting explosion and the shockwave blasted them all backwards. Rias got hit by the worst of the impact and flew with immense force through a tree, shattering the trunk. While dazed her eyes slowly gazed up to the angry eyes of the beast, who ran towards her.

And just as she thought that her life would end… **IT** happened.

A weight unlike anything she had felt before fell onto her shoulders, crushing her to the ground. Her peerage and the beast were all in the same position as her. But the thing that struck her the hardest, was the pain.

It wasn't a physical pain, but mental. The raw unadulterated torment, the screams that followed, the absolute fear, and the horrifying pit of helplessness seeped into her. It felt like forever before the sensation vanished, leaving behind all of its emotions upon its helpless victims.

When Rias finally notice the presence was gone she took took a choking, sobbing breath. She knew that for the whole duration that she had been crying, but it should be fully understandable. Those emotions it had left on her were just too painful, like a knife cutting her open just to twist her guts around. Even Koneko who was still unconscious had tears rolling from her eyes.

Her eyes shakily scrolled around the warehouse, now a mess of broken ground and sobbing Devil's, with no sight of the creature that had attacked them. Whatever that thing was had probably been scared off by that presence.

Her attention was pulled by the approaching wobbling Akeno who held an unconscious Kiba in her unsteady arms. The knight probably couldn't stand the strength of the presence and had been knocked unconscious.

Rias sighed as she looked at Akeno who was already putting together a teleportation magic circle to bring them back to the club room. At this point, all Rias wanted to do with sleep.

"Akeno, let's g-get back to the club room. A-all this bullshit can be dealt with tomorrow"

"Y-yes Bouchou"

Kalawana slowly pulled herself from the ground, using her sleeve to wipe the tears from her face unsuccessfully. She was confused, immensely so. What had just happened was new, even for her. That presence, it let off a ridiculous amount of aura of pain that any normal person that owned it would easily be psychotic, or at the very least mentally unstable. And anyone with a mind that unhinged would be leaking out that aura permanently. And yet it felt like it had both been released and sealed up. Whoever owns it must have a ridiculous amount of control over their power, and she did NOT want to meet them...

No wait... That presence was definitely something she had felt before, she just could not for the life of her remember where.

"Well what in fucks name was all that crazy shit!" came a voice from behind her. She let out a sigh as she faced towards Freed. She had always disliked him, he was by far too annoying for her tastes. But this time what he said was exactly what she was thinking.

"Do you think another Devil has come to town?" spoke Donnasiege from the doorway that he was using to hold himself up. Unluckily for him he had been in the air at the time the presence hit them, so his landing on the ground was bound to have hurt.

Kalawana just winced at the possibility before brushing it off and spoke, "Devil may feel sinful, but they don't feel like… That!" as she pointed outside the church.

"We may need to change our plans depending on if we can find the source" spoke Donnasiege.

"Well Whoop'de'fucking'do, I'm just going to go out and look for this fucking bitch because this shit has me hyped!", at his last words Freed ran out of the church.

The church was silent for a moment before Donnasiege brought up a question.

"He isn't going to piss off whatever that thing is, is he?"

Kalawana gave gave him a short deadpan stare, before turning around and walking out of the church to begin her own investigation. Donnasiege followed with a simple, "Yeah, I think he will too".


End file.
